The Daily Southern Cross.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3432, 16 July 1868, Page 2

The Daily Southern Cross.

LDOEO, MON UUO. If I have been •xtlnguishtd, y»t th«r» rise A bouifcnd be»ooni from the *p»rk 1 bor».

THURSDAY, JULY 16.

advantage in secrecy in such matters ; indeed the expenditure which must be secret in a free country can hardly be otherwise than corrupt. But this £7,000 for native purposes is but a type of its class, There is too much secret money in the hands of the Government of the day. Too much appears under the heading of contingencies, and is voted by our members in the dark. The very next item, that of Establishments of General Government, £8,300, is an indefinite item. Do the members know what it means ? Do they really feel sure that it is not, at least in part, a sum of money placed at the disposal of Government for unknown purposes ? Whether a Government is an honourable or a corrupt one it matters not, this is not a safe or a right course for the Assembly to take. If we are satisfied of the entire up* Tightness of a Cabinet, let us not help it to fall from its high pinnacle by throwing temptations in its way. If we are not sure about ita desire to economise, we have no right to give it the means of unchecked extravagance, and ithen exclaim if we find money wasted and heavy taxes imposed. We are convinced that a first step towards reform within the House must be the knowledge by the House of what the money is spent upon. This at present does not exist. Besides the two vague sums to which we have already referred, a farther sum of no less than £31,000 was last year votedby the House to pay for"contingencies." Of course it^would be impossible, as it would probably be very unwise, to attempt to make the Government state everything they woul spend item by item each year. Some margin there must be, no doubt, but the less the better. It cannot be said that £38,000 is a reasonable margin to allow the Government, we imagine. Such votes are encouragements to laxity on the part of any Government, and they are, we cannot doubt, responsible for much of the extravagance which the colony has reason to deplore. It may seem almost needless to urge such, views as neeesaary steps toward retrenchment, as we may be told that as a matter of course the members ought to make themselves acquainted with the meaning of their votes, ■Unfortunately the fact is that, however readily it may be admitted in a general way, our members do not know, do not even appear to think they ought to know, any of the details of which we speak. All that has been held to be the business of the Government, and it has taken for granted that they might be trusted to do the right thing, and no more. Such an impression is evidently erroneous. If the members do not themselves look after the matter, the result will be that it will not be attended to. Additional taxation will be proposed, and mustbe carried unless it canbe shown that it is not needed. Nothing can show this but an intimate acquaintance with what is asked for, and the reasons why it is asked. Nothing, we say, will avail which does not go to the root of the matter. If anything is to be taken for granted, all may be with equal propriety. The first point, then, in making any attack on abuses as they exist, is for our members to know something of these abuses. Nor will a general knowledge be of much use, because the real struggle will never be upon the general principle, but upon what is needed for a particular department of the public service.

We have been requested to direct the attention of our readers tj the publio meeting of eleotora to bo held in the Mechanics' Institute this evening. We presume that the proposed meeting is intended to supplement the one lately held, for the purpose of learning the views upon financial reform with which our members were about to take their places in the General Assembly. Seeing how little consideration most of our members had given to this all important subject, we are happy to observe that the public do not intend to allow the matter to be hushed up. If the meeting will pass clearly defined resolutions, and cause the same to be transmitted to our representatives at Wellington, the cause of reform may be materially promoted. It is the duty of all to assist in this movement. Our Mangapai correspondent notices a most satis* factory increase in the number of acre3 laid down in wheat in that distriob, as compared with previous seasons, Ijast year there were 27 acres laid down in wheat, and 125 acres this season. The half-yearly general meeting of the ■hare* holders of the New Zealand Insurance Company was held yesterday. A dividend was declared at the rate of 10 per cent., and a sum of £7,628 18s. sd. was carried to the reserve fund, making it up to £20,000. A report of the proceedings at the meeting * ill be found elsewhere. By the schooner * Fortune,' which arrived yesterday, we learn that 30 of the armed constabulary i force have received orders to proceed from Whaka- ' tane to Opotiki ; and that 50 of the militia have been placed on pay, and are to be stationed at the latter plaoe. The cutter 'Rose' arrived from Craig's Mill, Whangapoua, yesterday, having on board a man named Waller for admission to the Provincial Hospital. It appears that Waller was at work at the mill when the shackle carried away, a portion of it striking him on the edge of the left temple, and completely destroying the eye. The unfortunate man is said to be progressing as favourably as can be expected. The ps, 'Enterprise,' which arrived from Short* land at an early hour yesterday morning, brought up, in custody of Sergeant Lipsey and constable Bond, several men, who, during the day, were lodged in the Mount Eden Stockade— Robert Kelly, who escaped from the Stockade in March last, and was apprehended in Shortland on Monday last ; George Roberts, sentenced to three months' imprisonnent by the magistrate at Shortland, for larceny; Henry Barber, sentenced to four months' imprisonment for two acts of larceny. Alexander Andrews, charged with being a dangerous lunatic, was also Drought up by the constables. At the District Court yesterday, judgment wai given for the defendant in the case of Duncan and another v. Todd, which was heard on Tuesday. In the case of Cooper v. Coope, hu ' Honor decided that the notice given by plain 1 , ff was insufficient, and consequently judgment must pass for defendant. Judgment was given for the plaintiff in the case of Russell v. Marsh, in which the turn claimed for was part of the amount of £57 for which Mr. Rnssell wa« summoned in the District Court tome time baok by the creditors of Mr. T. W. Marsh. At the Police Court yesterday, four drunkards were disposed of in the usual manner. Thomai Jones, charged with stealing wearing apparel of the value of £2, was sentenced to one month's imprisonment. Robert Kelly was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment, for being a prisoner of the . Crown illegally at large. The number of miners' rights issued for theThamw Goldfield on the 13th instant was no lets than 7,580. A correspondent writes from the Thames ,'lJiat in travelling in any direction in Shortland a slough of mud i« everywhere met with. "It is," he sayt, " absolutely painful to see a team of strongs heavy horses pulling at a small drayload, which has got bogged in one of the many holes in Pollen-street.', 1 - Mr. Mulligan, the proprietor of the GovernorBowen Hotel, gave an entertainment the other evening to a number of gentlemen, on the occasion of placing the first rafter on the large extension of the house made towards Pollen-street. Champagne was freely distributed, and the success of the undertaking was drunk with cheers. This hotel is the largest and most commodious yet built in the distriot, the extreme length being 170 feet with a breadth of 50 feet, containing large public rooms.and the accessories of a first-class hotel. Mr. Edward Mahoney, the architect, and Mr. David Cowden, the contractor, were deservedly congratulated on their §ucoegs,-— [Correspondent.]

Hto Horn* Sir O«org« Araey tares for Taranaki to-day to hold the Court at that piace. The sittings of th« Supreme Court in Insolvency set down for today will, therefore, in all probability, be adjourned. From thii date the mm of fire ■hillings will be Qharged for regutering an interest in a claim, or transfer of a claim or share, instead of the usual fee of one shilling and sixpence.— Advertiser. We notioethat Mr. Frederiok Alexander Whitaker, •ldest son of Mr. F. Whitaker, solicitor, has given the requisite notice of his intention to apply for admission to praotice as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Conrt of New Zealand. Ai showing the premier position that Victoria is taking in the manufacture of mining maohinery, we extract the following from the Melbourne Argua, June 17th :— "A splendid ipecimen of ironwork has just been completed by the h ™s*f\*° u ™Z Company. It has been constructed for the Long Tunnel Gold-mining Company, at Walhaila, G.pps Land, and consists of machinery for the supply of air to the uaderground workings of the mint, which inoiudes, it may be explained, a tunnel of unusual length. Though u«ed extensively in coal and other mines in Great Britain, where great depths are reached, maohinery of this sort— at all events machinery on such a scale of magnitude— is a novelty m Tictorian mining. The large mass of ironwork which nQTf Ues at the Langlands Foundry in a fiouhed and perfect state may be described in one word as a fxgantip forcepump, by which air can be sent downwards by the same sort of force as is applied to water to send it upwards. It comprises four air cylinder*, each twenty inohes in diameter, with four-feet stroke, and a driving crank of polished malleable iron, weighing twelve hundredweight, all of which rests on two cast-iron plates twenty-six feet long, and each weighing fire tons eight hundredweight. These are coupled to the steam-engine by a malleable iron shaft, polished, on which is fitted a six-feet spurwheel. The shaft itself weighs two tons, which will Convey some idea of the general massiveness of the machinery. To drive this immense pump a steamengine of eighty-horse power will be employed As to the manner in which the work has been executed, it is not too great praiie to say that it would be a creditlto any ironfounding establishment m the world, while engineers who have inspected it have declared that the workmanship is equal to anything of the kind they ever saw at home." Messrs. Arthnr and Son will sell by auetion, at their mart to-day, IQO caws apple*, ex ' Harriet Armitage,' from Sydney.— Advt.